Spinal deformities, which include rotation, angulation, and/or curvature of the spine, can result from various disorders, including, for example, scoliosis (abnormal curvature in the coronal plane of the spine), kyphosis (backward curvature of the spine), and spondylolisthesis (forward displacement of a lumbar vertebra). Early techniques for correcting such deformities utilized external devices that apply force to the spine in an attempt to reposition the vertebrae. These devices, however, resulted in severe restriction and in some cases immobility of the patient. Thus, to avoid this need, several rod-based techniques were developed to span across multiple vertebrae and force the vertebrae into a desired orientation.
In rod-based techniques, one or more rods are attached to the vertebrae at several fixation sites to progressively correct the spinal deformity. The rods are typically precurved to a desired adjusted spinal curvature. Wires can also be used to pull individual vertebra toward the rod. Once the spine has been substantially corrected, the procedure typically requires fusion of the instrumented spinal segments.
While several different rod-based systems have been developed, they tend to be cumbersome, requiring complicated surgical procedures with long operating times to achieve correction. Further, intraoperative adjustment of rod-based systems can be difficult and may result in loss of mechanical properties due to multiple bending operations. Lastly, the rigidity and permanence of rigid rod-based systems does not allow growth of the spine and generally requires fusion of many spine levels, drastically reducing the flexibility of the spine.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods and devices for correcting spinal deformities.